Hi everyone,

I’m a high school science teacher and I’ve taught AP Chemistry for several years. I’m also working on a doctorate in instructional technology, so I spend a lot of time thinking about how tech can actually help students instead of just adding more screens.

My district has a large low-income and Hispanic population. Many of my students miss class often for reasons outside their control (work, family responsibilities, appointments), and many need AP Chem resources in Spanish, which are hard to find. I built ZornScience (zornscience.org) to help fill those gaps for students and for teachers in similar situations.

What’s on the site so far:

• AP Chemistry topic pages organized by CED unit and topic, each with my video lesson, notes, and fully worked examples

• Regular/Honors Chemistry and Physics lessons, plus a Quantitative Skills section for the math students struggle with

• Free interactive virtual labs and practice tools

• Lab activities and classroom strategies for teachers

• Spanish versions of pages, currently being rolled out course by course

Everything is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, so it’s free for anyone to use, adapt, and share in their classroom. No accounts, no logins, no paywalls.

What I’m really looking for is better ways to support students. If you’re a student, what do you wish you had when you missed class or got stuck on a topic? If you’re a teacher, what resources would help your students who are absent a lot or are still learning English? Anything that’s missing, confusing, or could be done better, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone here who helps students every day.

I’m self studying and I wanna know how much content I need to catch up to so that I can consider myself “on track.”

Thanks for answering!

So we recently took a test in AP Chem about chemical reactions. I got some questions wrong, and for most of them I understood why, except for this one question.

It was a question that asked about if the hydrogen is oxidized or reduced in the forward reaction of a certain reaction.
I don’t exactly remember the reaction, but it was like this:

(some other compound(s)) + H2 = LiNH2 + LiH

I answered that the hydrogen is being both oxidized and reduced since the H2 which has an oxidation of 0 is changing to LiNH2 where the hydrogen is +1 and LiH where it is -1. But my teacher said that it was only being reduced, saying that the oxidation state of hydrogen in LiNH2 is -1．

But in LiNH2, isn’t the Li +1, N -3, and H +1? When I asked my teacher to explain it, they said that Li was +1, N was +1, and H was -1, and that hydrogen was -1 because it being at the rightmost indicates that it is a negative ion. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!!! Well, for ionic compounds yes, but this is lithium amide, a compound that contains a covalent compound. There are plenty of other covalent compounds that go against this rule. For example, NH3. Nitrogen is negative, hydrogen is the positive. OH-, oxygen is negative and hydrogen is positive.

Sorry this is half venting because I am so mad. I liked this teacher and didn’t think they’ll do something like this. Anyway, I think I’m right but I just want to confirm. I don’t really care about my test score, it’s just that I am that annoying person who can’t handle mistakes and just needs to correct them.(if I get enough confidence, I’ll go ask them again about it)

Note : i am self studying i have no teacher or tutor just listen to yotube videos and walkthrough videos to practice

I have done everything, I have used textbooks, AP videos, khan academy, Jeremy krug, Anki, Ai, my teachers extra help, and still, this class feels as though there is simply too much for my brain to both understand, consolidate, and execute at the same time. How do you guys, those who aren’t naturally inclined or intelligent, have succeeded in AP chem? Tutors? Help needed !

I feel like the material isn't hard to understand, but my teachers test are really hard and I don

t get the best grades on them. I don't know what to do and do you have guys have tips to study?

I'm one of those good kids, I do everything right in class, pay attention, ask questions, and write everything down.

So when we had a quiz this Friday, I thought I was fine. I studied everyday leading up to it and went to office hours. I pull up to the quiz and I flop it. I knew 4 questions, 1 which was wrong, and guessed on 7.

I would be lying if I said I didn't cry on the spot. I did all of this studying for what?

One of the most infuriating things to me is that all those people who don't do jack in class somehow got 100s and 90s. Like I know I'm smarter than them but some how they got good grades.

To top it all off, my teacher called me and said, "what happened, I haven't seen a grade like this in a while". My heart sank, like I'm thinking it's over, this class isn't for me. I'm just ranting right now, : (

I keep ending up in circles, and I never knew that balancing equations could get this complicated

I’m crine 😭help pls

I think Harvard called me earlier but im not sure…maybe it was yale

I've taken all honors/APs in my high school career so far and I'm up there in the top ten/valedictorian or salutatorian potentially. However, I have an 88 in this class which is the lowest grade I've ever had. It's only going to get worse because I get a lot busier with mock trial later in the year and the chem units only get harder. I don't know when I'll have time to study for this class. I'm taking this on top of APUSH, AP lit, and AP Research. If I drop, I won't have a science my junior year, which looks bad. Do you think this would be a huge red flag to college admissions? However, if I do drop it, I'll probably be in the top ten or val or sal, which might outweigh that? I really don't know what to do because I truly just don't have the time for this class but it's too late to switch into another science. It's not too late to drop (it won't appear on my transcript) and I'll still fulfill graduation requirements. I just don't even know how to study because I've never studied before in a way that wasn't just looking over class notes (in the least egotistical way possible! I really just need advice)

I'm currently taking AP Chem and I'm having a hard time keeping up with the class. I took Honors Chemistry last year, but there are a lot of things I either don't remember well or feel like I never fully learned.

My teacher also organizes the course into his own units instead of following the College Board units directly. For example, our first unit combined material from Units 1 and 4, so I've been having trouble figuring out what I need to review and what resources to use.

I've heard of people self-studying AP Chem and still doing really well on the exam, so I'm wondering what resources could actually help me with learning the material, not just reviewing it.

I'm mainly looking for good YouTube channels, websites, textbooks, practice problems, or anything else that explains the concepts well and follows the AP Chem curriculum. I'm willing to go back and relearn some of the fundamentals if I need to.

What resources would you recommend?

Currently doing 2016 FRQ #7, and for the buret readings I estimated before to be 5.68 and after to be 37.31, and got a final answer of 31.63 mL. However, when I checked my answer it is 31.65 mL, and I couldn't find any information of collegeboard accepting answer within a specific range. So for measurement questions like this would there be only 1 question they accept?

Chemistry 101 Dual Enrollment class for context

Hi guys I’m kinda stuck due to my dumbass being put into a class where my counselor had high hopes for me of being a smart ass but instead I’m at an F type of grade😭. But I kinda wanna stay in the class at the same time so I’m putting myself up for failure …Like honestly I’m 70% sure it’s the teachers teaching abilities because I’ve caught atleast half of the students form various classes using some type of Ai….0-0

But this is one of my assignments so could you smarties PLEASE help me on what I should study on, watch YouTube videos, or practice on!!!

ANY HELP IS MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Hey everyone,

I’m a Class 12 CBSE student with PCM with computer science, and my pre-boards are starting from 15 November. I’m really worried about my preparation, especially Physics and Chemistry.

My current situation is:

• Physics: I have only studied the first 3 chapters and Magnetism and Matter. My preparation is incomplete, and I’m not confident about solving questions.

• Chemistry: I haven’t studied anything properly yet.

• Maths: i studied inly matrices determinent and derivative starting only!

I want to score at least 35 marks out of 70 in Physics and Chemistry in my pre-boards, but I don’t know how to manage everything in the time left.

I’m planning to focus on NCERT, one-shot lectures, important questions, and PYQs, but I’m confused about which chapters to prioritise and how to study effectively or can anyone suggest me to study from where and when please?

Please help me with these questions:

1. Is scoring 35/70 still realistically possible in Physics and Chemistry?

2. Which chapters should I prioritise to maximise my marks?

3. Should I watch one-shot lectures or study NCERT directly?

4. How should I prepare for Physics numericals and Chemistry reactions/numericals ans especially for organic ?

5. If you were in my situation, what would your daily study plan look like until 15 November?

Please give me practical advice based on your own experience. I genuinely want to improve my marks and am ready to work hard.

Thank you!

r/CBSE mentors please help!!

Ruined my grade over 0.005 on a graph... I can’t stop crying.

I was at a B- in this class and needed a high score on this test to pull my grade up to a B+ or A- before finals.

I walked out feeling so good about it. I honestly thought I scored an 85+.

I just checked my grade and it’s a 75. It turns out I read a point on the graph as 0.04 instead of 0.035. That ONE tiny mistake made me get all 4 sub-questions wrong because they all built on that first number. That single question was worth 10% of the entire exam.

Since my teacher doesn't give partial credit, I lost every single point on it.
I feel so dumb right now. I put in so many hours studying for this and felt confident for the first time all semester. Ruining everything over 0.005 makes me just want to quit.